Stephen Chernishov's Bio
Son of Robyn-Jane Harrington, and Gurian Chernishov, was born on the 1st of December, 1980, in Invercargill.
Stevey grew up in Invercargill. He went to Salford Primary, Rosedale Intermediate & James Hargest High School. He learnt the cello between the ages of 8 & 11, but broke his left pinky finger, which brought a switch to the drums.
As a child Stevey was fascinated by the arts, & most enjoyed drawing. He loved outdoor adventures, especially tramping & riding trails in the wilderness on mountain bikes. After High School Stevey immediately went flatting in Dunedin. He attended the Dunedin College of Education, majoring in Technology. While studying at the Teacher’s College, Stevey worked in the Information Technology department as a tutor. During this time he developed a passion for film making & visual communication. After finishing only his second year of a three year Bachelor of Education, Stevey decided to return to teaching one day – but to immediately focus intently on pursuing his newfound interests in digital media. In 2002, Stevey graduated with a a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Visual Culture.
From 2003, Stevey rented offices in Dunedin city. He set out to start a semi-professional film production service & offered graphic design. This was an exciting time of networking & seemingly limitless creativity. The media production service involved a lot of work with the University of Otago as well as local businesses. Short film clips, advertising material, & digital resources became the focus.
A few years into this, Stevey discovered an even deeper passion; for activating fresh ideas. He became involved in several business startups. Stevey became fascinated with connecting to local entrepreneurs, creatives & business people. He continued with this until December 2007, when one day the computers were suddenly all packaged away.
In 2008 Stevey made a sudden change, starting a Property Enhancement business, offering gardening & painting services. It was a time of reflection & reimagining how he could most effectively make his mark on the world. Stevey had become disillusioned with the corporate world as he knew it in Dunedin, and seeked to map out another way forward. In 2009, Stevey returned to College & completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching – with the same Technology major as he’d started ten years earlier.
Over the following years, Stevey studied social anthropology part time, while continuing to work at the University with the production of educational resources. He was searching for ways to understand people, society & how to design new solutions that were not boxed by the corporate system, which seemed overwhelmingly limiting for him. In 2013, Stevey graduated again for the third time with a Dip Grad in Anthropology.
While in Dunedin, Stevey played music in ‘art rock’ bands, mainly on the drums. He also worked at Radio One 91FM for a number of years, running evening shows, New Zealand music shows, & supporting the music scene wherever he could.
Stevey Chernishov, Dec 2021
Having somewhat of an ‘entrepreneurial & free spirit’, Stevey has since followed his passions for innovation, creativity & visual communication. His interest in entrepreneurship has remained with him since he was a teenager.
Since 2012 he has worked in seven schools as a Technology teacher. He had an ongoing service to Aurora College [between 2012 and 2021]. Stevey also worked at Verdon College [Invercargill, 2014], Menzies College in [Wyndham, 2015], Longford Intermediate [Gore, 2017] & St Peters College [Gore, 2020]. He most enjoyed several stints of relief teaching at Wakatipu High School.
Stevey bought a section of land at 18 Tauna Street, in Lumsden in 2013, & has used the space for tinkering\developing ideas. With a focus on mapping out new ways forward for the planet, Stevey has created numerous small buildings while in Lumsden, & built a pole barn house at 14 Tauna Street. He refers to this as ‘In8 DESiGN HUB’.
He also previously purchased his Grandmother Maureen’s old home at 135 Abbot St, in Invercargill (which she had bought for her mother), & proceeded to customise that space also -surrounding it with sleepouts, and converting every usable space into living, office or tinkering areas. Stevey called this ‘The Urban Village’; as it was to him a model of how to live efficiently, happily & socially.
Stevey is now on a quest to develop a brand that teaches ‘DESiGN Thinking & Essence’. The visionary brand called PANBAM involves cartoon characters & design processes that he has focused on over the years. He is on a long term journey to model alternative ways forward for the planet, & bring others into his idealistic world built on love and freedom. Stevey is determined to show others how to step out of debt and ‘the rat race’ into ‘truly living and love’ (2021).
Known As: Stevey Chernishov
Role: Entrepreneur, Activator of Ideas, Registered Teacher
Ultimate goal: To build a brand with products that inspires millions of people to see their true identity & show them how to design a better world.
Quirky facts: Stevey learnt the cello between the ages of 8 & 11, but broke his left pinky finger, which brought a switch to the drums. He has always been fascinated by the arts, & most enjoyed drawing.
Notable achievements: Graduated three times at the University of Otago, focusing on visual arts, education & social research methods.
Medium term goal: To learn about small scale manufacturing, creating truly localised products. This vision was inspired by trips to South East Asia, and seeing how high quality but high volume products are created on a micro scale.